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Topic: My 4th Wensleydale (Read 4824 times)

My 3rd Wensleydale was my best cheddary type cheese, so I had to try this make again. I used Dairy Dale milk, and this is supposed to be the same stuff as Anchor Brand, but sold as a budge milk (both put out by Fontera, just one in the expensive bottle, and the other in the cheaper bottle). However, I had major curd shatter this time, which is unusual. I do get a bit of soft curds from the budget store brand milk I usually use, but never complete disintegration. Anyway, in the end, the cheese is now complete and the knit is really good. Will see how it turns out. It has good colour as well, so it should be ok. Only time will tell.

This one was put in a vac. bag today. It's weighed in at 1352g, with a density of 1.07g/cm3. It's down 272g since brining, but the density has dropped from 1.21, so it's probably lost moisture but not shrunk in size. I have a lot of cheddar types reaching the 1 year mark, so this may end up aging out for some time. Nice.

- Jeff

P.S. this is not brined, I should have said "It's down 272g since pressing, ..." but I was updating this at the same time as a butterkase make, and butterkase is brined.

The milks are pasturized and homogenized, with about 3.3% fat and 3.3g protien (in 100 ml). Nosh is a store, and they have set up their own brand of milk to sell near cost. They are taking a stand against the supermarkets, who put a much higher mark up on milk then they do on soft drinks. Dairy Dale is the budget brand put out by Fontera (who do most of the milk in New Zealand and onsell to brands). But it may be that this milk is pasturized more harshly as I've not had curd shatter like this before when using other Fontera milk.

- Jeff

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The wise do not always start out on the right path, but they do know when to change course.

I should add, most of the milk I use is 3.3% fat and 3.3g/100ml, sometimes 3.4g/100ml of protein. There is a cream line milk available (Silvertop), and it does make the best curds. I should use it a bit more often. It's got a higher fat content (over 4% as I recall) too.

- Jeff

Logged

The wise do not always start out on the right path, but they do know when to change course.